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A detail of the poster for TIFF's 2013 gala, which celebrates the 100-year anniversary of Indian cinema. (TIFF PHOTO)

“For me, this is almost as big an undertaking as making a movie,” Mehta explained the other day, on the phone from the Banff Centre, where she has spent weeks taking advantage of the tranquility in a Rockies retreat to write the screenplay of her next movie.

The idea came up months ago after a TIFF board meeting.

Spitz, who masterminded the initial fundraising gala on opening weekend of the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival, was talking about plans for a 2013 gala.

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His colleagues were all ears. After all, despite a few glitches, the 2012 event, which had a James Bond theme, put $700,000 into the organization’s coffers — a crucial amount that can spell the difference between ending the year on budget and running a nasty deficit.

But what theme would make for a sparkling, successful evening this year?

After the meeting, Mehta told Spitz she had an idea. Why not turn the gala into a celebration of India’s cinema, which just happens to be marking its 100th anniversary this year?

In her mind, it was a no-brainer.

The upshot: not only did Spitz embrace Mehta’s idea, he talked her into becoming creative director for the event, while Spitz and Jennifer Tory, the co-chairs, act as executive producers and take charge of selling tables at $25,000 a shot.

After all, as Spitz noted during an interview, TIFF’s stated mission is to transform the way people see the world through motion pictures. And this event will help transform the way certain leading members of Toronto society see India’s contribution to the world’s understanding of South Asia’s history, culture and traumas.

Nor will it hurt that the event is certain to attract members of Toronto’s vibrant South Asian community who have deep enough pockets to attend a glitzy TIFF fundraiser.

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Mehta probably didn’t comprehend what she was getting herself into when she made the suggestion, but now she is pumped up with anticipation. And she is determined to demonstrate that there is a lot more than Bollywood to India’s cinema history.

The chosen venue is the stage of the Four Seasons Centre, which, as Spitz says, is in the heart of what he calls Festival Village: walking distance to Roy Thomson Hall, the TIFF Bell Lightbox and the hotels, restaurants and bars favoured by producers, stars and high-end festival patrons.

And they are counting on Mehta’s creative vision to turn the evening into a night to remember. As is her wont, Mehta has planned and orchestrated scores of details.

She has recruited Rashmi Varma to do the costumes and Tamara Deverell to be the production designer. At a pre-dinner reception, with entertainment designed by writer Devyani Saltzman (Mehta’s daughter), emcees Anita Majumdar and Zaib Shaikh (both cast members of Mehta’s movie Midnight’s Children) will guide guests through a few of India’s landmark films over the past century projected in the lobby of the Four Seasons Centre.

After the reception, guests will be ushered through the auditorium to the stage of the opera house, where tables will be set for dinner. That’s when the live entertainment will go on. As for the food, Mehta was determined not to serve guests anything less than great Indian cuisine.

“We can’t settle for rubber chicken with curry sauce,” she quips.

Instead, a feast will be created by the great chef Vikram Vij, whose Vancouver restaurant regularly draws crowds of followers who line up around the block.

For more than three decades, TIFF managed to do without this sort of gala. Meanwhile, other charities raised millions of dollars by feeding on the party atmosphere and celebrity mania that the film festival brings to the city every year. Now TIFF has learned that in this case, charity does indeed begin at home. Given the challenge of paying the bills since opening its building, the revenue provided by this event is as essential component of the organization’s financial viability.

With luck, Spitz will capitalize on some of the lessons learned at last year’s initial gala, which surprisingly — given that the festival is Canada’s most star-studded event — failed to attract some of the biggest Hollywood names in town that night.

This year’s gala should do better in that respect, partly because of its central location, and partly thanks to Mehta’s talent for making movie lovers in the western world happily immerse themselves in the culture of the country where she was born.

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